About this weblog

Here we'll explore the nexus of legal rulings, Capitol Hill
policy-making, technical standards development, and technological
innovation that creates -- and will recreate -- the networked world as we
know it. Among the topics we'll touch on: intellectual property
conflicts, technical architecture and innovation, the evolution of
copyright, private vs. public interests in Net policy-making, lobbying
and the law, and more.

Disclaimer: the opinions expressed in this weblog are those of the authors and not of their respective institutions.

August 2, 2004

Notable + Quotable

Posted by

Rob Pegoraro, in a Washington Post article indicating that the public is finally waking up and smelling the broadcast flag: "Left on its own, the market could give TiVo's system its appropriate reward. Except we don't have a free market in digital television -- the FCC guaranteed that by approving the broadcast flag.

The MPAA and the NFL phrase their objections as reasonable attempts to err on the side of caution. 'We're asking them to just wait awhile, let's think it out more thoroughly,' Attaway said.

But if a programmer or an engineer with a bright idea has to go to Washington, hat in hand and lawyers in tow, to request permission to sell a better product -- and is then told 'just wait awhile' -- we are on our way to suffocating innovation in this country."

Richard Harpel, director of federal relations for the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges, in a Texas Online article on universities finally waking up (PDF) and smelling the Induce Act: "Our main concern of the bill is not so much a specific problem that we could put a finger on, but instead general concern of a global nature in some of the terminology present in it. It could be interpreted by some court as a violation the way the language reads now -- at the very least, it could be a mischievous opportunity for people to make false claims."

Ernest Miller, in an Importance Of... post on the Bush and/or Kerry camp (not) waking up and smelling the copyfight: "Leftist copyfighters are unlikely to switch votes because Bush promises to stick it to Hollywood, and conservative copyfighters are unlikely to switch if Kerry turns on his Hollywood money donation machine. In such a situation, why should a politician stake out a clear position? Kerry will likely talk about protecting and promoting innovation, while protecting the rights of copyright holders and creative artists.

These are important issues, of course, but that doesn't mean they will be treated as important. Certainly, the copyfight won't be treated as important this election cycle. But that doesn't mean we should stop talking about these issues and pressing the campaigns on them."

The problem with the Click The Vote ratings is that they're just up-or-down votes by visitors to the site. It's too fuzzy. But they're still the closest thing to a Congressional scorecard on copyfight issues that I've been able to find. I am unused to being able to think of something that ought to be done and not find it already happening somewhere on the Web. Puzzling.